


Control

by ChaoticPen



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), BAMF Merlin (Merlin), Bipolar Merlin (Merlin), Consort Merlin, Dark Merlin (Merlin), Good Morgana (Merlin), Loving Arthur, M/M, Magic Revealed, Song: Control (Halsey), Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23981638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticPen/pseuds/ChaoticPen
Summary: Moments in Arthur and Merlin's lives as they grow, slightly based on my interpretation of Halsey's Control.
Relationships: Gwen & Knights of the Round Table (Merlin), Gwen & Merlin & Morgana & Arthur Pendragon, Gwen & Morgana (Merlin), Knights of the Round Table & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Knights of the Round Table & Merlin (Merlin), Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin & Morgana (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Morgana & Knights of the Round Table (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	Control

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is about Merlin primarily, with an Arthur who knows about his magic and loves him for it. And I know some parts of the moments don’t match up to the lyrics but this was the best I could do.  
> Thanks to @angelinathebook for proofreading.

**They send me away to find them a fortune  
A chest filled with diamonds and gold**

Merlin ran, searching for the Emeralds of the Lost, hoping he wouldn’t be too late to save the king. The castle was crumbling over him and he knew it wouldn’t last long. He didn’t think the emeralds would help save the king’s life, but Arthur hoped they would and he couldn’t leave the option before trying. And though it would be better for Merlin if the king were dead, he couldn’t bear to see Arthur so unhappy. He would do anything for his prince, even save the tyrant king.

**The house was awake, the shadows and monsters  
The hallways, they echoed and groaned**

Merlin crept around the guards guarding the dungeons to talk to Arthur. The king had thrown the prince in the cells after Arthur fought him for sentencing an innocent sorcerer to death. The king had screamed that all sorcerers were evil and that his son would understand later. Every brush of air felt like the brush of a hand about to catch him, every footstep sounded like a clanging of a sword, every shadow a guard ready to capture him and take him to the king.

**I sat alone, in bed till the morning  
I'm crying, "They're coming for me."**

Merlin woke up with a cry, choking, his lungs feeling as though they were filled with smoke, feeling fire running along his body. He sobbed, his mind replaying the memories of hundreds of sorcerers burned alive at the stake, terrified of being burnt alive. He could smell the smoke entering his lungs, though he knew it didn’t exist. He muffled his sobs not wanting to wake Gaius, happy he hadn't slept in Arthur's chambers that night. He stayed awake, watching the moon and stars till the sun rose. He walked into Arthur’s room, watching the sunlight fall on his relaxed face, and smiled.

**And I tried to hold these secrets inside me  
My mind's like a deadly disease.**

Merlin looked around him to see most of the knights still awake and fighting. Knowing he couldn't help until they were unconscious, he waited. One by one, all the knights fell fighting the beast. Merlin saw that all the knights were unaware and quickly killed the threat with a flash of his eyes. Tears slipped down his cheeks, his guilt at letting the others get injured slowly consuming him. He turned to find Arthur gazing at him, smiling sadly, his arms open for Merlin to slip into his embrace. Arthur held him close, murmuring sweet nothings in his ear as Merlin silently sobbed into Arthur’s chest.

**I'm bigger than my body  
I'm colder than this home**

As soon as the bandits hurt Arthur, Merlin's magic exploded and killed all the bandits except the leader. The leader stared at his men in shock and turned to look at Merlin realising what he was. He apologized and begged Merlin to let him go. Merlin stared at the man impassively as he apologized for hurting Arthur, as though his apologies would fix anything. Merlin quietly slit his throat, his face betraying no emotions. He quickly gathered Arthur onto his horse and rode towards Camelot as fast as he could.

**I'm meaner than my demons  
I'm bigger than these bones**

Merlin glared at the man who had kidnapped his Arthur and tried to get away with it. Quietly he strode over to him and pulled him close, whispering how he wished to torture him into his ear for the offence of taking his prince from him. The man knelt at Merlin’s feet, begging for mercy, shaking from fear of Merlin’s threats. Merlin finished him off quickly and walked up to Arthur and freeing him. They held each other for a moment, both checking the other for wounds, murmuring soft words to each other. Merlin pressed kisses all over Arthur’s face, glad to have him back.

**And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"  
I can't help this awful energy**

The people he had from the beast saved looked at Merlin in fear. Seeing the looks, Merlin fled, holding his sobs till he reached the place in which they had set up camp. Merlin jumped on Arthur as soon as he saw him, clinging desperately, sobbed into his shirt. Arthur said nothing and simply hugged Merlin closer, pressing a comforting kiss to his head. They fell asleep under the stars in each other’s arms, content in just being there, together, unharmed.

**God damn right, you should be scared of me  
Who is in control?**

Merlin smiled darkly as he shattered the iron restraints locking him tightly to the cave wall. Pieces of the restraints bounced around the cave, the sound echoing everywhere. The sorceress who had kidnapped him stared at him with ill-concealed shock, dropping her silver dagger to the floor. She trembled like a leaf in the wind and fell to her knees begging for him to leave her alone and saying she had meant him no harm. Merlin stared at her coldly as she begged for mercy, her pleas meaning nothing to him. He stripped her of her magic and turned intending to get away, to find Arthur waiting for him at the cave entrance with a warm embrace and a kiss. 

**I paced around for hours on empty  
I jumped at the slightest of sounds**

Merlin paced around Arthur’s chambers, wondering when Arthur would return. A visiting lady had accused Merlin of trying to take advantage of her and had taken the matter to court. Arthur had hidden Merlin in his chambers, for no one would search the prince’s chambers, and set out to prove his innocence. The sound of footsteps outside the door made Merlin jump, and he pulled out his dagger when Arthur walked in and told Merlin he was safe. Merlin pulled Arthur close to him, his dagger lying forgotten on the floor.

**And I couldn't stand the person inside me  
I turned all the mirrors around**

Merlin stared at his hands, seeing the blood of all those he had killed. He stumbled to the sink and washed his hands, scrubbing them until they turned red. He turned around to see his reflection in the mirror and he punched it to shatters, unable to look at himself, his magic making the other mirrors flip over. Arthur walked in to see Merlin sobbing with his hands bleeding, sitting among shards of glass. He walked softly toward him, enveloping him in a hug, and pulling him closer. He stood up after Merlin had calmed and took out the kit that Merlin insisted he keep in the room, and slowly bandaged his hands, pressing kisses to them. 

**I'm bigger than my body  
I'm colder than this home**

Merlin grinned as Arthur chased him in the forest, running as fast as his feet could take him. His laughter echoed in the forest, followed by Arthur’s swift footsteps. He turned around to tease Arthur, only to see Arthur being clutched by a man. The man looked quite old and frail, but he was holding Arthur to him with a knife at his throat. Merlin’s good mood disappeared and he blasted the man back, making sure his knife didn’t nick Arthur. He swiftly seized the knife and threw it at the man’s heart with precise aim. Arthur walked up to Merlin, smiling, and grabbed him, tickling his sides.

**I'm meaner than my demons  
I'm bigger than these bones**

Arthur was about to push Merlin against the door when an assassin came in, expecting him to be asleep. He glared at the assassin before turning and pushing the man into a headlock. Merlin looked at the man with narrowed eyes as Arthur sentenced him to death at dawn and took away the assassin’s weapons. The assassin wriggled slightly in Arthur’s hold, loosening it. He made a break for it, punching Arthur in the gut, clearly not thinking Merlin was a threat. He gasped in shock and pain when Merlin ran him through with Arthur’s sword, not a second later.

**And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"  
I can't help this awful energy**

Arthur grinned, watching Merlin make butterflies and dragons out of flame with his magic, looking at his golden eyes and smile. Morgana and Gwen barged into Arthur’s chambers, Gwen apologizing behind her. The movement in the room suddenly stopped, the girls staring shocked at the fading magic. Merlin stared at their pale faces, and murmuring apologies, trying to explain that it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t choose it, and that he was born with it when Morgana started laughing. Almost shyly, she told the men about her magic, Gwen laughing happily in the background.

**God damn right, you should be scared of me  
Who is in control?**

Merlin smiled darkly as the man who had hurt Arthur cowered at his feet, pleading for mercy. Arthur was lying unconscious on the forest floor, his blood creating a red halo around his head. A murmur on his lips had the man impaled and dead, bleeding onto the green grass, turning it blood red. He ran up to Arthur, wondering how his prat got into so much trouble, healing the wound on his head and carrying him away gently. He didn’t spare a glance to the dying man, tying Arthur’s horse to his, settling Arthur onto his horse and climbing up behind him.

**I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my head  
They beg me to write them so they'll never die when I'm dead**

For Arthur, Merlin had told them, he would do anything. He would kill, die or destroy. As long as Arthur was alive, as long as they were together, everything would be fine. Because nothing made sense if Arthur wasn’t there. Wasn’t alive. Arthur was everything to Merlin, just as Merlin was everything to Arthur. Merlin would go to the ends of the earth for Arthur. Always for Arthur, everything for Arthur. The druids stared at Merlin, the man who they called Emrys, their saviour, in shock and told him they would protect Arthur with their lives.

**And I've grown familiar with villains that live in my head  
They beg me to write them so I'll never die when I'm dead**

Arthur awoke with a scream, breathing hard. Merlin stared at Arthur as he recounted his nightmare and rubbed his shoulders comfortingly. He turned towards Arthur, placing his hands on his cheeks. He told him he would always protect him and save him no matter what or who he had to destroy. Hurting Arthur was the worst crime Merlin could think of, and no one would get away with it. The legends would know him as Arthur’s protector, the one who never let another harm his king.

**I’m bigger than my body  
I'm colder than this home**

Merlin screamed at the maid who had dared to poison Arthur’s food, her pleas of it being an accident and her apologies falling on deaf ears. He dragged her to the king and informed him of her crimes and that Arthur was in the physician’s quarters. He stared coldly as the king punished the maid who shouted that the king and the prince deserved death along with the prince’s manservant. He slipped as soon as it was acceptable to do so, wishing he hadn’t had to stay but knowing he couldn’t be with Arthur if he was in the dungeons.

**I'm meaner than my demons  
I'm bigger than these bones**

Merlin smiled gently as Morgana learnt to control her magic under his care. Morgana laughed as a small flicker of fire appeared in her palm, proudly showing it to Arthur and Gwen who were smiling at her, happy she was happy. They were in a small glade deep in the forest where no one ventured. An arrow shot towards Morgana with incredible speed, Merlin’s magic stopping it midair before it did any harm. Merlin’s eyes glowed softly and the arrow sped back to where it came from. A cry from behind the bushes told them the arrow had hit its target, Arthur moving to check if the assailant was dead.

**And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"  
I can't help this awful energy**

Merlin stood behind Arthur as he was about to tell the Knights of the Roundtable of his magic. The knights paled immediately after hearing the word magic before Arthur had finished telling them who had magic. Merlin and Morgana shrank back slightly, hurting, Morgana finding comfort in his embrace. Gwen walked up to them, hugging them both as Arthur finished talking to his men. Gwaine broke away from the men, walking up to the sorcerers, smiling at them, joining the hug. The others quickly joined ruffling Merlin’s hair and laughing with Morgana.

**God damn right, you should be scared of me  
Who is in control?**

Arthur stood up, informing his council of his decision to lift the ban on magic and making Merlin his court sorcerer and consort. Most council members stood up shouting protests to his decisions, telling him he would never be a king as great as Uthur if he continued on this path. Merlin spoke up saying they were right and that Arthur will be greater than any that were before him and those who will come after him. One of the councilmen called Arthur the ruin of Camelot when he started to float in the air. Merlin looked at them, eyes glowing, and reminding them that insulting the king was treason.

**And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"  
I can't help this awful energy**

Merlin was standing next to Arthur as they announced he was a sorcerer to hear a few afraid people whispering about him enchanting the king because he was a sorcerer. The people Merlin had helped in the past were glaring at those accusing him. Turning around, Merlin ran blindly, ending up in Arthur’s chambers, falling onto the bed sobbing. As Morgana, Gwen and the knights ran behind Merlin, Arthur blankly informed the people of Merlin’s sacrifices for Camelot and how many times he had protected them before walking away and rushing to his chambers.

**God damn right, you should be scared of me  
Who is in control?**

Merlin smiled proudly as he was crowned King Consort of Camelot. As he was about to sit on his throne beside Arthur, a man came in screaming insults at the king for letting sorcerers live and for naming Merlin, a manservant, his consort and threw a knife at Arthur. All around him, the people of Camelot glared at him, for Merlin and Arthur were beloved by the people. Merlin, looking at him with narrowed eyes, asked the people what they thought he should do. Needless to say, the man was dead come dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! R&R, please!


End file.
